Calne town councillor Roy Golding has installed CCTV on his house in Colemans Farm after his front door was shot at with an air pistol.

Several attempts were made to shoot the glass window in his front door on Hallowe'en night. Marks were left on the door frame and one pellet penetrated the first layer of double glazing on the window.

Coun Golding said: "If it had been single glass someone could have been seriously injured. If one of my children had been walking past the window there would have been glass everywhere and it could have really harmed them."

After the attack Coun Golding decided he had no choice but to step up his security.

"I have installed my own CCTV system where I can turn the camera and see who is approaching the house. I felt it was necessary as I have two small children aged five and eight."

Coun Golding said it was incredibly sad that he had to put in the extra security to keep his family safe.

He said: "This estate has got better lately. But there are elements that are hindering progress. It is a shame these incidents happen because it makes it look like Colemans Farm is an awful place and it is not."

Coun Golding said he used to live in a quieter area near the White Horse Leisure Centre but he preferred Colemans Farm because there was more social interaction.

PC Clive Carey, who is investigating the shooting, said the door had been shot at with an air pistol or BB gun.

He said: "We spoke to different groups of kids who were out enjoying Hallowe'en. Several of them said they had seen two youths driving around the town in a van with a paintball and BB gun.

"It was white Ford Escort van with Fox written on the side. If someone knows who was driving it we would like to know."

Despite Coun Golding's experience, PC Carey said the town was relatively problem free on October 31.

"There were more police around the town. There were one or two isolated problems with egg throwing but it went off reasonably well. There was not the nuisance that there has been in previous years," he said.

The shooting happened just days after Coun Golding's car was vandalised. Broken keys were left in its door locks, preventing him from getting into the vehicle.

Crimes committed with BB guns are an increasing problem in the Calne area. The day before Hallowe'en a 13-year-old Calne boy was sentenced to a four-month referral order and ordered to pay £55 costs after he admitted shooting three girls with his BB gun.

The boy appeared before the Youth Court at Chippenham Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with three counts of assault and a public order offence.

He had deliberately fired the gun at the three girls as they walked home from school and followed one girl after she ran off to shoot her a second time.

He had bought the gun, which is a legal toy, from a friend at school. After the incident he was permanently excluded from the school.

An elderly Calne couple escaped serious injury in another dangerous prank three weeks ago. The pair suffered smoke inhalation after pranksters lit a flare, which is used to kill moles underground, outside their front door in Macauley Square on October 25.